Rating: 
Summary: An Epic Struggle
Review: I played the videogame before reading this book, which is basically the same as reading the second book in the series, The Flood, before the first (this one). I always found the story in videogame quite exceptional, yet I didn't even know half the story until I read the truly outstanding Fall of Reach. All of the battles in this book are so brilliant, so powerful, and so grand, it just leaves the reader with utter satisfaction.You really get a sense of a large war and an intense struggle to fight against an enemy of such intelligence and brute force. Humanity really has its back to the wall. Fall of Reach actually just skims the surface of all the great plot twists, yet its character and story development are absolutely top-notch. The best 7 bucks I've ever spent on the internet.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Halo-the popular X-box video game- has recently had its second novel published based on the in game play and story. While Halo: The Flood by William C. Dietz contents much of the action and setting of the game, its predecessor-Halo: The Fall Of Reach by Eric Nylund- focuses more on the origins of the enigmatic Master chief and the ethical questions of future soldier hood. The story of Reach is about John, AKA the SPARTAN master chief, his "selection" to be a guardian of the empire, the training he endures and his fight to save humanity. One of 75 SPARTAN II, children chosen by the government at the age of 6 to be super soldiers, he is neither the strongest nor the fastest; however, John is the bravest. His foe, the Covenant, is a group of aliens waging a jihad against humanity for an as yet unknown reason. They have superior technology and are only kept away from Earth by the Cole Protocol: any ship engaged with the Covenant must destroy all data and navigation concerning earth. And though the SPARTANS, protected with MJOLNIR armor (the name of Thor's hammer, which as long as the gods possessed would protect Asgard and Valhalla), never lose a battle, they are slowly giving way to the alien onslaught. The action cumulates to the climatic battle of Reach a galactic Thermopylae were all the SPARTANS, except Master Chief, fall in defense of the planet.
While the first book was a better novel its action was far less than Flood. The book starts where the game does with the Pillar of Autumn crashing onto Halo and ends with the master chief escaping, once again alone (it does not pay to be friends with a Spartan). The appeal of Flood was the introduction of game favorites 343 Guilty spark-a senile robot with the keys to a doomsday device straight from Dr. Strangelove- and the flood- a parasitic life form that's sole purpose is to fill its end less hunger. Fans will be pleased by the seamless flow that matches the game; however, there are no great literary aspects, nor any of those troubling ethical questions that plagued our hero in Reach. More than just action the story offers a glimpse into the not so distant future of warfare and the ethical questions that need answering. Dr. Halsey, the founder of the SPARTAN II project, is unsure if the creation of an army that may be earth's only hope justifies the kidnapping of 6-year-old children, sending them to a life of military brutality and injecting them with drugs and implants that give them inhuman strength, but kill half the SPARTANS from side effects. And in the story we see not the thriving world of tomorrow, the Earth itself is only referred to in regards to the Cole protocol, but a harsh militant empire in a perpetual war with an enemy that they do not even know why wants to destroy them.
The story has a good mix of battles that range from space, jungle and zero gravity and are well described. The characters, though far from revolutionary, do change with the story as does the technology. One can tell the book was written by a civilian by the SPARTANS referring to each other by their first names. Mr. Nylund does a nice job of putting in enough Physics for Trekkers who actually care about the dynamics of slipstream, and knowing when to jump back to a battle scene. The Halo future is interesting precisely because of it's so close to our world: DNA modification, AI computers that are alive and battle armor that grants near superhuman abilities and all the while still containing shields, aliens and super weapons that dwarf the Deathstar and.
I enjoyed the two novels and finished them in a few hours. For those interested in information on the real Spartans they could read Gates of Fire, a historical novel about the stand at Thermopylae, and Greek Armies an illustrated history by Peter Connolly.
Rating:
Summary: From a Halo fan
Review: If you are a fan of the Xbox game Halo then you should at least read this book. It is a quite well crafted prequel to the game and finishes at the point the game begins. It tells the back-story of the Master Chief and Captain Keyes and explains their relationship. It also gives an insight of the "bigger picture" explaining the war between Humans and the Covenant and why the Master Chief is the only SPARTAN still alive...perhaps. The games story is quite interesting but reading this book before playing creates an extremely rich sci-fi universe to run around in and blow up. Great stuff, much better than Halo: The Flood.
Rating: 
Summary: The Fall of Reach- A great Beginning
Review: This book was an amazing start to the series. It gave an enthralling backround to the SPARTAN II project and to the Human-Covenant conflict. If you own Halo the game this gives you all the backround you need to know to tie up those loose ends. I recommend reading this book as well as the whole series. Even if you're not a sci fi type of person, you'll enjoy it because there is still the modern human element underlying through the whole story.
Rating:
Summary: At the risk of sounding cliched, this is a must-read
Review: My expectation for this book wasn't that high, considering the massive amounts of other B-grade books on the similar topic. But instead of the expected stereotyping, this book was in a class of its own.
The author, Eric Nylund, did an impressive job of painting the story in the readers' mind, descriptions weren't repeated, and so on.
The story was based on the much acclaimed x-box game, Halo, this being the official prequel with two other books in the series. The story is set approximately in the year of 2552, where humans had colonized other systems, and is under serious threat from a mixture of aliens called the 'Covenant' and is on the verge of being defeated, meaning, extinct, as the brutal Covenant doesn't take prisoners.
The plot revolves around a group of "super soldiers", mostly focusing on the leader of the group, Spartan- 117, or more well known as the Master chief. They were, as the book states, "bred for combat" and were immensely strong and agile. Bolstered by their MJOLNIR battle armor, they were the saviors in many battles. They had won on every mission, though for every minor victory on land, the space fleet lost two major ones, as the Covenant weapons technology was immensely superior to that of the humans.
Anyway, their last mission in the book was to capture a covenant ship, and use it to find out the location of their home world. This was abandoned because of a huge Covenant invasion on the military installation of Reach. As the title of the book implied, the seemingly invincible fortress fell, because of a planet side assault. The whole Spartan company was slaughtered except for the Master chief. The book closes with the flight of a cruiser containing the Master chief, escaping the wrath of the Covenant forces.
Beautifully written and narrated, this book is a treat for all.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing read for fans of the game.
Review: I purchased "The Fall of Reach" two years ago now, yet somehow didn't read it until these last three days. And that's as long as it took to finish it. I read about 100 pages a day (which is a lot for me, take my word for it). I have beaten the game many times and always felt that something was missing. I wanted more information on the characters, the Covenant, and Halo itself. I am pleased to say that Nylund's novel does an excellent job of conveying this information. I was deeply enthralled with the character of Captain Keyes, who plays a much bigger role in the book than he does in the game. Similarly, learning about the creation (and imminent doom) of the AI Cortana was beyond interesting. Despite the fact that I knew the Master Chief was the only Spartan who would survive, I still felt surprised and sad when the other Spartans fell. Nylund uses an excellent narrative voice for this genre, the vast Naval spaceship battles between the Human and Covenant fleets are told with a level of detail that keeps your eyes frantically focussed inches away from the page, constantly anticipating the next word. After finishing this book, I felt empty: I was disappointed that it was over. Don't get me wrong, though, this is a good feeling to have; it means it was a damn good book. As good as it is, there are a few things to note. Though this is a petty, insignificant complaint, I found many typos throughout the book, sometimes forcing me to stop and think it through to find out what it was really supposed to be. However, this does not degrade the overall experience of reading the book. Also, it is doubtful that this book will be half as interesting to a non-fan of the game. For any Halo fan, however, this book should be required reading.
Rating:
Summary: Impressively Written
Review: This book is a very nice jewel. It takes the reader into the fascinating world of the future, battling Covenant insurgents. The formation of the Spartans and their whole training process was truly a worthy read. From the first chapter, this book hooks onto you and doesn't let up.
This book also makes a great prequel to the XBOX game, Halo. It gives you a bit of an extra edge with the background you learn in "Fall of Reach". This is one book that will truly stay on my bookshelf forever. I normally don't care much for science-fiction books, but this one allured me. I personally found this book to be one of best science-fiction books, among top books such as Ender's Game, Dune, and the Lord of the Rings.
This is definetely a book that anyone, teen through adults, should read.
Rating:
Summary: Before the Halo
Review: The Fall of Reach is the first novel in the Halo series. In 2517, Lieutenant JG Jacob Keyes and Dr. Halsey inspected the final candidates for the SPARTAN II project. On Eridanus 2, candidate 117 is a six year old boy named John. In this novel, John 117 and seventy-four other six year olds are initiated into the military worldview, learning teamwork and esprit de corps. They are taught a wide range of academic subjects as well as military skills. They are tested in field exercises with devious surprises and nonobvious goals. They are subjected to drugs and surgery to increase their strength and reaction time. The weak, slow and unlucky are weeded out through death and disability, but those unfit for combat are retained in staff and support positions. Those who complete the training are sent on missions against insurgents, pirates and other threats. In 2525, an alien force attacks the Harvest colony. These aliens don't try to conquer the planet, but rather reduce it to slag. The aliens issue only one communication, in the human language, stating that the destruction of humanity is the will of the gods and that the Covenant is their instrument. This Covenant apparently comprises several different sentient species. Their vessels are superior to the Human warships, with better weapons and a form of reactive shield. The remaining SPARTANs are immediately transported to the Damascus Materials Testing Facility on Chi Ceti 4. After their ship fights off a Covenant vessel, the SPARTANs are dropped onto the planet and taken deep underground to the MJOLNIR project area. There they are each fitted into their MJOLNIR armor and quickly trained in its use. Then they depart the planet to rendezvous with their transport, but the Covenant ship returns and they use their new armor to board and mine the enemy spacecraft. This novel is a prequel to the Halo game scenario. It provides the backstory of SPARTAN-117, the Master Chief. It also tells of the first incursions of the Covenant into Human space, the subsequent battles in space and on the ground, and the eventual fall of Reach. It describes the fate of the other SPARTANs and the escape of the Pillar of Autumn into the system containing the Halo artifact. This story is a vivid description of the deliberate modification by drugs, surgery and conditioning of a group of superior six year old children into awesome military tools. The original purpose of these super troopers is the suppression of discontent among the colonies by an autocratic government. However, the appearance of hostile aliens with far superior technology changes their roles from agents of oppression to the last hope of humanity. This story also contains some interesting concepts in the formation of Artificial Personalities. It postulates two kinds of AI personalities, one with a large, but limited set of responses and another with an essentially open-ended learning capability. The first kind is stable and has a long life cycle. The second, however, is limited to a useful life cycle of about seven years. This story has several flaws in the use of military ranks and customs. There is entirely too much saluting going on, for salutes are rendered even to noncoms. Moreover, there is a scene in which a Chief Petty Officer is saluted by two Lieutenant JGs and is apparently their commander. Of course, ranks and customs will probably change in the future, but the existence of commissioned and noncommissioned ranks indicate the existence of something like the present command structure. Highly recommended for anyone who enjoys stories of military combat and super warriors.
Rating:
Summary: awsom
Review: If you were a big halo fan. You would like this book i wanted to know what had happen before the halo and where mc came from then i read this book you should buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Nylund does it again
Review: Eric Nylund is very quickly filtering up the list of my favorite Sci Fi authors. Here in the Fall of Reach we see another virtuoso performance by a master of the Sci Fi genre. I was unable to give this book five stars because I felt Nylund was somewhat constricted by the Halo franchise. If you have read the Signal to Noise series you know how much Eric strains himself to hold back on truly deep exploration of the Cortana figure. Her whole character is RIPE for development by an author like Nylund. As a warning there is not as much space battle in this book as the first one in the series. It is mostly a Master Chief POV/special ops perspective. I don't think that is where Nylund would have gone naturally. I gave the book only three stars because I think Nylund was forced to write "inside the box". However he did a MUCH better job than did Dietz (that man should have all his writing tools confiscated).
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